大寶法王說，人生最大的痛苦就是我們的心太混亂了，無法平靜下來，因此我們想要得到快樂，卻總是得不到。我們以為快樂就是買一台車，買一間豪宅、或找到一個伴侶、結婚生子。但是你會看到，有些人這些全得到了，但沒有真正快樂過。

His Holiness the 17^th Karmapa said, People's greatest suffering is that our hearts are too chaotic, and we cannot settle our minds, so even though we want happiness, we can never get it. To make ourselves happy, we may buy a car, or buy a fancy house, or find a spouse to get married and raise a family. But you will see that some people have all of these, but they have never been truly happy.

(this is my translation from the Chinese to English. I am not sure if there is a translation from Tibetan to English. This will have to do.)

朋友打電話來說，「我剛看電視台新聞，跑馬燈說紐約大地震，死了很多人！」

紐約地震？如果用ㄅㄆㄇㄈ打「紐」字，第一個詞是「紐約」，第二才是「紐西蘭」。

A friend phoned to tell me, "I just saw on the television news, they had a scrolling text that said there was a terrible earthquake in New York, and a lot of people died!"

New York, New Zealand, who can keep all these foreign names straight?

A prolonged dry spell in Wulai ended today. Starting Monday (February 21) at dark, Wulai endured almost 70 hours with no rainfall, except for a shower last night. This afternoon's rain restored everything to normal. Mosquitoes throughout the jungle are joining leeches in quiet celebrations and ceremonies of thanksgiving.

隨身攜帶環保筷很麻煩，乾脆用免洗筷…嗎？

請按：這裏。：

臺灣雖自吹「與世界接軌」，卻越來越封閉。最嚴重的是，當全世界擔心人口過剩得同時，臺灣拼命鼓吹多生孩子。一種非常自私的心態：養兒防老，至于孩子生活水平，管它的，只要養我就好了。

怎麼辦呢？臺灣人口再不減的話，後患無窮。

where the world is headed:: click here::

Yesterday I mentioned how quickly technology changes. Fifteen years ago, a sure bet would have been to open a photo shop, selling film and developing pictures. Now you have to remind people what 'film' is. Do you remember how to load a camera? Or do you take pictures with your phone?

When I got my first digital camera, in 2000, people used to ask me why I didn't hold my camera up to my eye to shoot. Mine was the first digital camera many people had seen. The little screen on the back, and the instant replay, probably influenced many people to get rid of their film cameras.

Now the small point and shoot is on the way out, replaced by cell phones. Ten years ago, if you had said, "I'll take a photo on my phone," people would have thought you were crazy.

I wonder what we will take for granted in 2020 that we consider totally ridiculous now.

On my browser, there are white splotches on today's main post. Don't ask me why. They aren't there for emphasis or anything. I can't get rid of them, that's all I know.

Technology molds the economy, when the economists and politicians leave it alone. Technology is changing so fast that it probably doesn't make sense any more for kids to write compositions on What I Want to Do When I Grow Up, because important careers in the future haven't been invented yet, and many good paying jobs today will be obsolete.

Twenty years ago, who would have imagined that you could do good business selling telephones? Fifteen years ago, who would have imagined that opening a shop to develop photos and sell film was not a solid investment?

On Yahoo I found an interesting article (here) about jobs that will not be back once the economy recovers. Some are predictable: you won't need anyone to answer your phone, file clerks will be unemployed, mail sorters will be redundant.

Of course it has been proved many times that the experts are not infallible. But still, I was sad to see stage performers on the list of endangered jobs. "According to jobs researcher Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., live performances have fallen out of fashion and have been almost entirely replaced with movies and home entertainment technologies." Okay, I have never hired a juggler or magician, but YouTube just isn't the same as watching a real person perform.

Carpenters are another occupation that may disappear, with more and more prefabricated houses (yuck) and mass produced chairs from Ikea. Holistic healing may become a luxury service, if it isn't already.

This article is based on the US economy, and different jobs will come and go in different economies, but it is a good over-all indicator of trends.

The good news is that telemarketers and door to door salesmen are dying out, replaced by internet and tv advertising. I don't watch tv anyway, and on the internet, I have a wonderful ability to ignore ads: I simply don't see them. That's a lot easier than ignoring a ringing telephone, so good-bye and good riddance! There are not many telemarketers in Taiwan, but enough to be a nuisance. Instead we have, or had, teleswindlers, but people have wised up enough now that that occupation too is pretty much defunct. Good bye and good riddance!

朋友說，「自從得了精神病，整個人精神好多了！」

Forty years ago today, February 13, 1971, I staggered off the plane in Saigon after a trip that lasted over 20 hours, from SF to Honolulu to Guam to Manila to Saigon. Mom picked me up at Ton Son Nhut airport in Saigon and took me to breakfast at the Blue Diamond on Tu Do, which was wonderful, because all across the Pacific, flying just ahead of the rising sun, the stewardesses had been serving breakfast. The breakfast Mom took me to was my fifth in a row.

The war was going on, so the Saigon streets were a busy mix of motor scooters, taxis, jeeps, bicycles, pedestrians, and tanks, all sharing a total disregard for traffic laws. Most men were in uniform and carrying pistols and M16s. Women who were not doing physical labor were dressed in the ao dai, white top with black pants. The sun was strong. The smell of the country was unfamiliar, but enticing. Sounds and sights were different from anything I was familiar with. Barbed wire was everywhere. Military patrols and checkpoints dotted the city.

After a tour of the city, we went to the bakery, where two dozen girls were busy making pizzas for the war effort. They were Viet Namese, with some 華僑 ethnic Chinese, and the managers were Korean. They worked downstairs, Mom and I lived upstairs.

We deposited my luggage and went to Uncle Jim's for dinner, where I planted my face in my plate. Jet lag had caught up with me.

I managed to wake up long enough to finish dinner and go to the bakery, our home. I woke up late at night, maybe 2 AM. Soon a heavily armored jeep with quad-50s drove past. In the distance I could hear artillery fire.

Sleep quickly overtook me again, and I fell dead asleep until first light, when I was awakened by a lady walking down the street with a shoulder pole, calling her wares. My new life had begun.

今冬很少見太陽，只好過乾癮~~~
We've had so little sun this winter that we have to look for it on the internet::: here

蒙曼著唐玄宗：「一個國家要想興旺發達，不僅要有完備而有活力的制度，還要有健康向上的道德風尚。」

虧這句出于大陸史家之筆。曾為復興文化堡壘、重整道德基地的自由中國臺灣，正缺乏這種高瞻遠矚。

高瞻遠矚；或許因為國民政府遣臺，一直處于危機：解放軍要攻下臺灣、外交攻勢將瓦解臺灣等等，一波又一波，似乎永無止境。命扗旦夕，需時時臨機應變，所以一直用短打、撲火的方式；眼前局勢如累卵，哪能打開心胸培養出高瞻遠矚？心急如焚，無暇醞造宏偉志氣。

If you are getting all dewy-eyed about the Reagan centennial, be sure to read this::here:::

and let nobody forget that he forced Taiwan to import American cigarettes and liquor, or else be penalized with a trade embargo. Thanks a lot, Ronny, for all the cancer, all the ruined lives.

Obviously Reagan did not light cigarettes for people on the street, but there were huge advertising campaigns, passing out free packs of Marlboros and other American brands to high school kids, and all sorts of promotion. American beer did not sell at first, so the Reagan administration demanded they do something about it. There was a big push, buy one can of Taiwan beeer, get a free can of Pabst or Budweiser. And so forth.

Before that, the ROC government had been pretty protective, and wouldn't allow McDonald's or KFC to open stores here, for health reasons, but when cigarettes came, Mickey D and Colonel Sanders followed. Plus 7/11, leading to the demise of the Mom & Pop stores.

Reagan's purported reason for this was a trade imbalance: everything for sale in the US said MADE IN TAIWAN on it, but few American products were imported. Few people wanted American cars, and they are too big for convenience here. A lot of soybeans and corn were imported, but not enough to offset the trade imbalance.

A main factor in Reagan's hard line was the American tobacco sales were falling, due to the rising awareness that cigarettes kill. Rather than let the tobacco industry lose money, Reagan made Taiwan, South Korea, and a few other staunch allies import cigarettes: better to kill loyal friends than allow some business people lose a couple bucks. The ROC representatives signed the agreement in a lavishly decorated conference room in the US State Department. The million dollar tab for the decoration was picked up by the tobacco industry.

If Reagan had pushed other American products into the Taiwan market, such as pianos, lumber, or aircraft, okay, but liquor and tobacco? We're lucky the NRA didn't climb on the bandwagon.

Before Reagan, tobacco had been a government monopoly, so cigarettes were made very uneconomically ~ I forget the details, but because of the tobacco drying process, Taiwan's smokers had the world's lowest cancer rate. When Reagan rammed American cigarettes into the market, to compete the government monopoly bureau had to abandon the old methods, so now the cancer rate is as high as anyone else's.

Makes you proud to be an American, I tell you!

農民觀察到，若蛇盤兔，即將大豐收；越多蛇盤兔越豐收。所以，兔年吉祥圖往往以斯為主題。

Farmers observed that if snakes coiled around rabbits, the harvest would be good, and the more snakes coiling around rabbits, the better the harvest would be. This became a popular motif for Rabbit year decorations.

How are you spending your New Year holiday?

I was awakened much too early by distant barking that sounded too much like Byajing. She wasn't to be seen, and Yumin was absent too. Not a good sign. I called, but neither responded. The barking continued, far away.

Nothing to be done for it. I strapped on my laraw (番刀, Tayal knife) and set off into the jungle. Half an hour later, I found both dogs prancing frenziedly under a treed kitty cat.

(If you look carefully, in this photo you can see treed kitty and eager dogs.)

If I pulled off Byajing, Yumin would stay there until either he or kitty starved. If I pulled off Yumin, Byajing would come, so Yumin was the key. But I also wanted to get close enough to grab Yumin without frightening the cat into jumping onto my head. From a safe distance, I prodded Yumin with a length of reed until he switched position, and seized him.

I cut a length of vine and put it through his collar, but I was afraid that wouldn't be strong enough to hold him. Along the way, I found a discarded, broken bamboo bow with string wrapped around the handle, so I unwound the string for a makeshift leash, and dragged the culprit home.

So how are you enjoying your holidays? Getting plenty of rest?

Blaq kwara kawas na alis.

祝大家兔年一帆風順。

我們常祝人說，「一帆風順」，卻很少想到，帆船速度很慢，而且，即使順風，水手還是需要用人力揚帆、放帆，仍然辛苦。帆船出海，進行速度跟我們扗陸地走路差不多。百年前，從美國西岸到中國，少說兩三個月，就要有耐心慢慢向前進。

現扗從舊金山搭飛機到臺北十二個小時，我們還嫌慢。可是我們時速千公里飛過太平洋，我們對那片廣大、莊嚴的大海，一無所知。帆船的水手扗大海順風前進，日夜與海洋相處，白天看浪、雲，晚上觀星、月，無聊就胡思亂想，會想很多。

現代人怕無聊，非常害怕「想」，所以讓自己忙：電影、電玩、iPod、簡訊，怎麼不敢停下來，因為如果無聊，就會有「想」的危險，太恐怖！拿起報紙看看娛樂版吧！救命啊！

帆船速度慢，行船辛苦，要有耐心等待成果，一步一步向前進，所以帆船淘汰了。現扗祝人「一帆風順」太不合時代！從此，我們應該祝福人：一步登天。

祝大家

兔年快樂

心想事成

超度有情菩薩志

往會善眾極樂願

Happy year of the Rabbit to one and all!

還有一對，文字遊戲：

我執免了興大義

玄逸兔子迎太平